German food bank hands out access cards for Germans only

BERLIN — A food bank in western Germany has gone ahead with plans to exclude any more foreigners from accessing its services, despite an uproar across the country but applause from the far-right.

The German news agency dpa reported the Essen food bank gave out several dozen new access cards to German citizens on Wednesday, while turning down foreigners.

The move, announced in January, was strongly condemned by migrant aid groups, and the bank’s truck was daubed with the word “Nazis.” It triggered a wider debate about treatment of those on the margins of society.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday “such categorizations” of Germans and non-Germans were “not good.”

The food bank in Essen says about three-quarters of its users are migrants, and that some elderly people and women are being scared away by them.

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